The New Jim Crow – The New Republican Poll Taxes and Minority Disenfranchisement

07Jul

When you do the Math – the coalition of Minority Voters and 20-30% of white voters makes it difficult for Republicans to win elections. Indeed, George Bush owes his illegitimate Presidencies to systemic voter disenfranchisement of minorities – in what has become The New Jim Crow.

As such, along with disbanding Unions, Republicans across the country are using every weapon in the legislative arsenal to eliminate the black vote. Whether through gerrymandering political districts, or though more heinous tricks such as Voter IDs and purged voter rolls.

Republicans, wed to the “Southern Strategy”, the racial dynamics of white victimhood, the reactionary and racist Tea Party, and anti-immigration from brown countries – have virtually no chance of increasing the number of black, Hispanic, or Asian voters in their party.

So their solution is to “disappear” Minority voters.

Bill Clinton – no longer a political candidate for office, speaks out…

Former President Bill Clinton compared efforts by Republicans to change voting laws across the country to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes that historically disenfranchised African American voters.

Speaking before a group of liberal youth activists Wednesday, Clinton said laws in states like Florida and New Hampshire are aimed at limiting voter turnout and keeping young people from the ballot box.

“There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the voter Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit a franchise that we see today,” Clinton said at Campus Progress’s annual conference in Washington.

Jim Crow laws, enacted between 1876 and 1965, included fees and laws historically used to keep African-Americans from voting. Clinton said Republican governors and legislators are now trying to “keep most of you [young people] from voting next time.”…

Clinton was critical of regulations preventing same-day registration and specifically referenced Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s move in March to overturn a law that allowed convicted felons to vote after they completed their probation.

“Why should we disenfranchise people forever once they’ve paid their price?” Clinton said. “Because most of them in Florida were African Americans and Hispanics and would tend to vote for Democrats, that’s why.”